Predictions are in boldface, followed by those which I personally would nominate in italics. As with previous years' lists, for several categories I have NOT provided my own nominations, since frankly I know jack about costumes, sound and so forth. Films that I have listed as my own personal nominations yet which are not actually eligible in those categories are marked with an asterisk.

PICTURE

(This year, there will be anywhere from five to ten Best Picture nominees, so I will rank them in order of likeliness -- my guess is that there will be nine, because that’s how many there were the last two years. Which means, of course, there will probably be eight or ten.)

The Bling Ring, for the final chance to see new cinematography by the late, great Harris Savides. It’s a testament to how greatly he was regarded among today's filmmakers that at least three films this year featured dedications to him – The Bling Ring, Frances Ha and Her.

The bullet train sequence from The Wolverine. I was starting to believe that action scenes dependent on green screens and computer animation could never be as exciting as full-scale stunt scenes; clearly I was wrong.

The fight direction, cinematography, production design and costume design of Wong Kar-Wai’s The Grandmaster. I doubt Wong will ever become a favorite of mine -- all that digital slo-mo! -- but this was one exquisitely crafted and visually gorgeous film.

The final shot of Frances Ha -- a perfect capper to one of my favorite films of the year.

Gravity, especially the visual effects and Emmanuel Lubezki’s cinematography, and in this film it's particularly hard to draw the line between them.

Inside Llewyn Davis. I can’t decide if it’s the Coens’ best film -- it’s not as close to perfect as A Serious Man, but is much richer emotionally -- but there’s so much to marvel at, particularly Bruno Delbonnel’s cinematography, Oscar Isaac’s performance and all that wonderful music courtesy of T Bone Burnett.

Iron Man Three (yes, that’s how the title is written in the film’s credits) -- hugely entertaining, but more importantly, I can’t tell you how much it thrills me that an old friend of mine made the highest grossing film of the year.

John Williams’ score for The Book Thief, by far the best of the year. Is he really that much better than everyone else working today, or is he just the only great current composer who’s actually allowed to work at the top of his form? (I suspect it’s the latter, but he’s still pretty damn amazing).

Julianne Moore -- she makes every film better, which admittedly may not be that difficult in films like 6 Souls, The English Teacher and the competent but entirely pointless remake of Carrie. She was also excellent in Don Jon, and bravely unlikeable as the monstrous mom in What Maisie Knew.

KK Barrett’s production design for Her.

Parker -- I will offer no defense for this as any kind of great film, but there’s always a sort of disreputable joy in watching Jason Statham pretend to beat up stuntmen (see Homefront and Redemption for further confirmation), and I’m just thrilled that someone not only made a (reasonably) faithful adaptation of one of Donald E. Westlake/Richard Stark’s great Parker books but actually called him “Parker” for the first time on screen.

The production design and visual effects of Oblivion.

The Spectacular Now -- among so much there that’s so wonderful, I’ll have to mention in particular Miles Teller’s performance and Bob Odenkirk's final scene as Teller's boss.

Star Trek Into Darkness -- if the new Star Trek films have to be just remakes of Wrath of Khan, I’m glad that this time they at least took it into a fresh direction (and anyone who suspects Benedict Cumberbatch can play only variations on the same role should see him in August: Osage County).

Tom Hanks in Saving Mr. Banks and Captain Phillips, particularly his incredible final scene in the latter.

Tom Hollander in About Time and The Invisible Woman; another one of those actors, like Julianne Moore and Philip Seymour Hoffman, who makes every film better just by showing up.

The visual effects, sound mixing and sound editing of Pacific Rim.

The World’s End, my favorite film of 2013. Too many great things to mention, so I’ll just quote three of my favorite lines -- “Oh my God! I’m so cute!”, “F*** off, you big lamp!,” and “I still think nothing that has been suggested in the last 10 minutes beats 'smashy smashy egg men.'”

THE WORST FILMS OF 2013

THE BIG WEDDING
THE FAMILY
GETAWAY
A GOOD DAY TO DIE HARD
KISS OF THE DAMNED
ONLY GOD FORGIVES
PASSION
SCARY MOVIE 5
SPRING BREAKERS
UPSIDE DOWN

These predictions sound about right - mediocrities largely abound, while more interesting films like Mud, Frances Ha, Upstream Color, The Past and Inside Llewyn Davis will get very little attention or will be ignored completely.

I haven't seen The World's End, but I must admit those quotes from it have me very intrigued now!

Any chance of a dedicated "worst-of" movie list? It's been a while since the last one.

Between all the end-of-the-year pieces (CD Checklist, Did They Mention the Music?) and trying to complete one more Top 40 series, I doubt I'll get around to it. Also, the prospect of putting into words why the latest film from my beloved DePalma is so bad is just too depressing to contemplate. But thanks for your interest.

Personally, I didn't hate Passion with a...um, passion like you did, but I did find it a terribly familiar slog through well-worn De Palma-isms, and even visually, it was no great shakes, looking more like a made-for-cable movie than anything De Palma put out in the 70's, 80's or 90's (even The Black Dahlia, flawed as it was, still looked like a movie). Still not a worst-of-the-year candidate for me, though...where was Pain & Gain?

No doubt Gravity will win Best Cinematography (as Life of Pi and Hugo did before it), but I'm not convinced that a movie that's 85% per cent constructed in a computer should even be eligible. The cinematography award is getting about as silly as the music award has always been.

Meanwhile, Rush is the best movie about male competiveness since The Right Stuff, and like that movie seems destined to go without its just reward.

No doubt Gravity will win Best Cinematography (as Life of Pi and Hugo did before it), but I'm not convinced that a movie that's 85% per cent constructed in a computer should even be eligible. The cinematography award is getting about as silly as the music award has always been.

Meanwhile, Rush is the best movie about male competiveness since The Right Stuff, and like that movie seems destined to go without its just reward.

A couple of technical awards or for Daniel Bruhl's great performance would be just fine - for major awards, well, not really...

No doubt Gravity will win Best Cinematography (as Life of Pi and Hugo did before it), but I'm not convinced that a movie that's 85% per cent constructed in a computer should even be eligible. The cinematography award is getting about as silly as the music award has always been.

Meanwhile, Rush is the best movie about male competiveness since The Right Stuff, and like that movie seems destined to go without its just reward.

A couple of technical awards or for Daniel Bruhl's great performance would be just fine - for major awards, well, not really...

I don't disagree. I'd just like to see it sneak in for a Best Picture nomination over some candy-colored drek like Saving Mr. Banks.